Crafty Resolutions 2018-How Did You Do?
 

Now that the year is coming to a close, I thought it'd be fun to look back and see how we all did on our crafty resolutions this year!

I managed to get a few goals crossed off my list. I taught myself to linocut and tried printmaking a few times. It was a blast, and I will do it more next year, too.

I dabbled at watercolor, and had a lot of fun painting in a sketchbook. I think the big help for me was when I purchased Prima Watercolor Confections. I love them so much! I also bought all the Prima watercolor brushes. Having the right tools helped.

I went on three craft retreats! Always fun.

I made a scrapbook (very simple) with Christmas photos, just for my family to enjoy.

I de-stashed frequently, but I also bought a lot from the buy/sell forums. Probably a wash there, but at least it refreshes my inventory.

I didn't do nearly enough card sending, so I need to get better there. And I also didn't get nearly enough scrapbooking done.

How did you do on your goals?

Failed miserably, thanks for asking... ;)

Ha ha, Sue! You've had a lot on your plate this year, so you can give yourself a break.

I was re-reading the post of Craft Resolutions for 2018, and you told a great story of an author who would write a list on the things he did at the end of the year, and then at the top of that list write the word "Resolutions". Done! I love that!

I won't say that I failed miserably, but my goal of making more cards (20 per month) and SENDING them fell way short but at least a few people got a card from me each month. Nowy studio is actually completed so I'm resetting my goal and hope to actually achieve it in 2019.

Haha, I'm right there with you. It's been a hard year. But we're about to move and make a fresh start so I'm hopeful this next one will be better. The only crafty resolution I'm making for 2019 is to play with my stuff a couple if times a week.

I don’t even remember if I made any... :(

Guess I should give that some thought for the New Year

I failed miserably as well. But I did enjoy my six granddaughters all under age 8, two of them born this summer. So I am happy.

I had a great start but life got in the way a lot this year so I did less and less cleaning up & organizing (my resolution) as the year went on.

I'm just ready for the year to be over.

me too!!

Not so good, but did finish using ALL my Sew Suite DSP (6 cards), Nouveau Chic DSP (12 cards-I think), and Trim the Tree DSP (20 cards). It was a very hectic and FAST year! Hoping to do better in 2019.

Need a haha button for that remark. 😄😄

I was just going back through my photos of completed projects and I am pretty pleased. Very surprised and pretty pleased.

I used up all the half-done layouts (probably 30 pages) from Creating Keepsakes convention classes of the last 3 - 4 years. I had made it my goal to finish those this year since I was not going to be able to attend, and did not want them hanging over my head for 2019.

I filled in all the gaps in my Christmas albums from 1985 to present with the exception of 2015 which I need to put in my PL album for that year.

I scrapped our 1985 honeymoon trip to Bermuda as well as our 2015 - 30th anniversary trip back to Bermuda.

I finished up 2017 project life in January 2018, and have completed the first 6 months of 2018.


I made all 75 of my Christmas cards.

I reorganized my studio for about the 3rd time in 9 years, and finally scrap-booked its evolution.


I got around to trying flip flaps and waterfalls on layouts to incorporate extra photos.

I started an album on the building of our house (20 years ago), need to finish it with interior shots and family photos.

I challenged myself to use up some of my oldest product including a Cosmo Cricket paper kit from 2009. I set aside a stack of older 100 patterned papers and managed to use all but 20 of them. I easily used more than 20 sheets of newer paper, meeting my 100 sheet challenge.

Early in the year, I purged a lot of my unwanted supplies by packaging them up in kits and selling them at a local scrapbook store. I actually spent a good deal of the proceeds on necessities like adhesive, album pages, and tools.

I have completed 10 of 12 months of SCT's 365 monthly class, and used 8 of the 12 monthly SCT sampler subscriptions.


I did fail miserably at a spending freeze I started in late summer - I only lasted 2 1/2 months. And while I sorted and purged quite a few photos in order to be able to get so much scrapping done, I have lots more photos in need of organization, many of them digital.

I don't even want to think about what my goals for 2019 should be. I think part of my success this year was only having a couple - then when I made progress on those, I was motivated to tackle something else. I would have found too long a list too daunting.

😮 Wow!

With just a week left in 2018, I think I did pretty amazing on my goals and I am so excited and motivated to get going on 2019 goals.

My goals were:

- Make a card every day in 2018.
I went through my blog and I have made 276 blog posts in 2018. That's 4 times as many blog posts as I had made in 2017. All posts had at least one unique card. I was also on a design team for a few months and made some additional projects that aren't included on my blog. And there's a few cards that had to be made and sent out too quickly to photograph and a dozen cards that are a part of a Christmas gift that I couldn't share ahead of time.

Overall, I counted 322 cards created in 2018 which I'm incredibly proud of. I didn't hit 365, but I think I'm close enough to claim the goal as achieved.

- Practice brush calligraphy.
I didn't do much with calligraphy in 2018, unfortunately. One of the biggest issues is that I just have not been able to find the time to sit down and do calligraphy drills and those are pretty essential in learning to control the pen.

As this goal was more of a casual one, I'm ok about not meeting it. I might pick it up here and there in 2019, but my everyday writing is pretty okay for the applications I wanted to use calligraphy for (fancy addresses on cards).

- Start writing.
I did amazing with this goal, as well. I started journaling as a way to clear the clutter from my brain and heart, and it has been such a monumental way to keep my stress levels down. I've completed 2 and a half A6 journals and half my gratitude pages journal.

I don't write every day, but I fully give myself permission to make a cup of tea and write in the evenings - especially if something's been on my mind. My journal entries are private, but not scandalous enough to be embarrassing if someone read them. More importantly, I've tried to write about small everyday events and anecdotes that I might want to remember years in the future.


2018 has been a really busy year. Mid-way through the year, I quit the job I had for 6 years because it was no longer a good fit and started working in a completely different industry full-time. I lost 45 lbs and had to buy a brand new wardrobe. We had one funeral, 2 weddings and a baby shower in the extended family. All in all, it's been a lot of adjustments and finding a way to manage my time without feeling like I'm constantly running on empty.

So, I'm thrilled with my goal progress and can't wait to see how my goals work out in 2019. I'm only setting 2 crafty goals for 2019, but one of them is a really big one. I've found, though, that I need to embrace anything that makes me excited and motivated to create - and my two goals definitely do. :)

I didn't make any resolutions so I didn't fail.

I don't make resolutions, learned years ago that it didn't help. ;-) I make a lot of cards, but mailing them is where "I" fail miserably!!